If God is perfect, then God’s plan is perfect; if God speaks to George W. Bush, the message is therefore perfect and cannot – indeed, must not – be questioned. Moral certitude again; now we have some vague notion as to why this president is utterly, irrationally inflexible and will persist in this war until “Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting [him]”
Yet is it true? Or is it all a façade? While Americans argue over religious red herrings such as abortion, right to die, feminism, stem cell research, and creationism vs. evolution, George W. Bush acts with impunity. Rhetoric without substance. Hypocrisy. This split, this dichotomy, illustrates a disturbing element within the American psyche: despite the professed separation of church and state, politics has rarely been so steeped in the trappings of religion. Only one religion – fundamentalist Christianity – is allowed. But as Christianity places the emphasis more on what one believes rather than what one does, salvation can come within minutes of death: confess, request absolution, accept Jesus, and the soul is saved. Yet one could legitimately argue this twists the essential precepts of an established religion, and that true, good Christians insist upon both. Does George W. Bush ever contemplate Iraqi deaths? The innocents put to death on death row while he was governor of Texas? What of his mockery of Karla Faye Tucker? What of dead American soldiers? more
Hell
by
George Leroux
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